My writing is just plain crap. But if one day this becomes of use to you and someone asks "Where did you get that?" You can answer, "Just some crap"

Thursday, June 12, 2014

The Ecdemomania

“Traveling alone is not for everybody.” Whenever I meet my friends, family or even
strangers they tell me this. But what makes someone travel alone? Is it their
personality? Their background? Their situation? After days of thinking, researching
and reading, I’ve come to a conclusion…

People get jealous. It’s the fact that I’ve
been traveling for almost a year that get this conversation flowing. First
question is always, where did you go? Then comes, who did you go with? Guessing
and assuming from this, most people find the destination and the company of the
travel the two most important things. And I’m pretty sure everyone has a, what
they call, “dream destination”. Places they dream to visit and sights they wish
to see. But why? Why don’t you go? I ask. Here comes the long list of excuses I
hear every time:

I’m too busy.

I don’t have enough time.

I don’t have money.

I have kids and a family to take care of.

I don’t want to travel alone and no one can
go with me.

Like I said, these are just excuses and not
reasons. I personally believe everyone CAN travel, better yet, travel alone.
Everything in this world has a positive and negative. Traveling alone does too.
But the point I’m trying to get to is, don’t let being alone ever stop you from
going to places. We live on this earth as individuals. No one will live your
life for you, so why wait for someone to travel with you when you can do this
by yourself.

Trust me, I had my fair share to excuses. I
was also too busy, had no time, didn’t have enough money, and lastly was scared
to go to places I’ve never been to, all alone. Reality is, you can make time,
you don’t need a lot of money and you can overcome that fear. You can. You
really can. I don’t believe anyone will work 24hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days
a year. Obviously, that’s impossible and every country has its fair share to
holidays in a year. Some jobs even have days off. Make use of these times
wisely. Even if you only have a day, you can still travel. Plan your rest days
in advance. Set dates out to travel ahead of time and if you can even request
for some days off. Work in advance and make sure you’ve done everything you
need before going on a leave. Don’t just opt for spending another weekend at
home. It’s time to explore because you will not be the same person you were
after traveling.

Next is money, which limits to where we can
go but can never stop anyone. There are so many options, cheap options when it
comes to traveling. Prices also depend on the season, so research is crucial
when you are budget traveling. I, myself am a budget traveler. I’ve been to 6
countries in Europe on a tight budget. It can work. Well, it did for me. I went
to Europe late January which is the off season, meaning plane tickets are
cheaper at this time of the year. The reason being the weather is cold and it
is harder to walk around. Plane tickets are an important part of budgeting.
Choosing the cheaper airline, picking the tickets with a stop-over and the
cheaper dates can play a big role. After comes the motels or inns you wish to
stay at. Try staying at dorms, it’s cheaper and also fun because you get to
meet new people and can also get tips from the owner. After that comes you just
making sure you don’t spend money on unnecessary expenses. See? Budgeting is
not that hard after all!

Lastly, the excuse of I can’t travel alone.
I’d ask first of all, have you ever tried? Most people will say no. Then, how
would you know? If you never tried traveling alone, how would you know if you
would hate it or like it? And if you have tried it alone and you hated it,
maybe you can try again but this time think about why you hate it. Trying to
know the reason might help. Like for me, I was just scared. It was mostly fear.
Not knowing can become a huge fear to people. But remember, fear is just an
illusion. It doesn’t really exist. After going to a destination I had no idea
about, the next became easy. After that, I wanted to go everywhere, even to the
most dangerous places. It’s simply that one step. One step and soon you will be
running.

You can start with destinations within the
country you are living then moving to the continent, slowing making way to
different continents. It is going to be hard to start with a country you have
no idea about so just take baby steps. You don’t need a grand plan nor have to
get stressed about arriving at a certain place at a certain time. Because a
good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving, in the words
of Lao Tzu. So pack your things and just go. Doing is better than saying. Any
day.

My money is usually spent in buying expensive books in fullybooked and cool stuffs online. Nice advice Jinri! I didn't think of renting a dorm in the country I want to visit and instead, my first thought is going the traditional way of contacting a travel agency that will handle the plane ticket, visa application, hotel stay and travel tour fee which will cost me a huge sum of money compared to something where I'll budget the spending on my own.

I don't think the real problem is about money, time, or solitude, but the human condition. People are generally reluctant to venture outside their comfort zones and traveling is essentially anything but. To cover for this, people would rather say (and believe) the lies they tell themselves, and to other people, to prevent the status quo from being overridden.

That said, traveling is not for everybody. Some people are naturally incapable of moving around, maybe due to genetic predisposition. Furthermore, not all people travel for the sake of saying, "Fucking YOLO" or some shit like that - we all have our reasons to travel, and sometimes, that reason is all that matters.

I completely agree with you on your first paragraph esp the part where you brought up the comfort zone issue. As for the second part, I believe thats your opinion and i don't agree with it 100% but really appreciate you sharing it with me. It's nice to hear different perspectives :)

I've traveled alone myself so I can relate. However, it's not really just excuses that keeping a lot of people from travelling, the major factor in my opinion is motivation. People travel for different reasons and how motivated they are to go to that destination affects the amount of effort they are willing to expend. The reasons you have have mentioned regarding why people don't pursue similar travel plans as yours are often are just that: excuses. by going into depth why those reasons are not really barriers or obstacles to travelling, it can help them clear their head and put more of an effort. however, a lot of people here in the Philippines don't take such conversations in a positive manner as it will make them realize that they were "wrong". Any way, keep on writing. It's a great creative outlet and also helps to clear one's thinking.